Warren Buffett isn't often wrong. Yet he was when he said: 'It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.' Most reputations are severely damaged because an organisation has failed over many years to operationally live up to the high expectations set by their PR and marketing activity.

BP should have done more to prevent the Gulf of Mexico oil spill two years ago but the company's complacency was not unique in the industry, former CEO Tony Hayward said this week in his most public comments yet about the disaster.

Political power struggles have set the industry back and there doesn't seem to be any sign that the jostling for position will end soon. The fact that some oil companies are no longer sure if they even want to stay in Iraq can only be a testament to the fact that, after nine years, Iraq's oil policy has failed and that a change of direction is needed.